Are Wii U demo stations running Ubuntu?

During a trade show or convention, like E3, it’s no secret that demo units of console games frequently run on a PC rather than the console on which the final build will be released. A picture supposedly taken at a Best Buy, Redditor culmor30 found this Wii U demo station stuck on Ubuntu’s iconic splash screen.

The demo unit, pictured above — if real — was stuck on Ubuntu’s eggplant-colored splash page, awaiting the insertion of a USB key. This is most likely a security measure to prevent unwanted access to the unit.

Now, the image could easily be a fake, or if real, some anomaly at a lone, Linux-trailblazing Best Buy. Another Redditor, schizm0, said that the demo unit is definitely not a Wii U, and runs on a computer hidden underneath the console. Schizm0 also states that the unit only runs a demo of Rayman Legends. His source? Supposedly a GameStop manager who set the demo unit up. It’s not entirely clear why a GameStop manager would set up a Best Buy demo unit, but schizm0’s comment could’ve lacked important context. Perhaps he simply meant he knows a GameStop manager that set one up at a GameStop, and that unit uses a PC running Ubuntu.

Another Redditor, Bossman1086, who claims to have used one of these demo stations, notes that the GamePad’s home button doesn’t seem to do anything, and the Wii U’s UI is normally very different from the one displayed by the unit.

Unfortunately, all of these are simply claims without much in the way of hard evidence, but would be pretty interesting if true. After all, Ubuntu is free, relatively speedy, and user-friendly. It wouldn’t be impossible to think that a company (especially one that’s known for using cheap hardware in the majority of their consoles) would build a demo station using a free operating system, rather than licensing one that isn’t.